Film and television In 1984, the Twinkie became known worldwide in countries that did not sell the confection, due to a reference in the hit film
Ghostbusters. In the film, the character
Egon Spengler describes a speculated level of
psychokinetic energy and uses a regular-sized Twinkie to represent the normal level of such energy in
New York City. He then says that based on a recent sample, the Twinkie representing New York would be over long and weigh approximately , to which the character
Winston Zeddemore replies, "That's a big Twinkie." The 1999
Family Guy episode "
Da Boom" involves the
Griffin family moving to
Natick, Massachusetts, in search of a Twinkie factory following the
Y2K apocalypse. The factory is shown to have survived completely intact, allowing the Griffins to use it as a food source and a means to rebuild society. In the 2009 film
Zombieland, Twinkies are the favorite snack of the character Tallahassee, who develops an obsession with finding one in the middle of a
Zombie apocalypse. During Hostess Brands' 2012 bankruptcy proceedings, television host
Wendy Williams launched a "Save the Twinkie" campaign on her show to bring awareness to the financial problems of its parent company, and attempt to save the product from stopping production.
Slang Twink is
gay slang for a male who is usually in his late teens to twenties whose other traits may include a slim physique, a youthful appearance, and little or no
body hair. The age range for twinks is generally considered to be from around 18 to 25 years old.
Twink is used both as a neutral descriptor, which can be compared with
bear, and as a
pejorative. One possible origin of the term may be a derivation from Twinkie, commonly regarded as the quintessential
junk food. The food is described as "little
nutritional value, sweet to the taste, and creme-filled"; by comparison, the young men are described as "short, and blond, and full of creme",
Song lyrics "
Habits (Stay High)", a 2013 song by Swedish singer
Tove Lo, mentions Twinkies in the line "I get home, I got the munchies / Binge on all my Twinkies / Throw up in the tub / Then I go to sleep." In an interview, the singer confessed she had thought that "twinkie" was a synonym for "cookie" and that Hostess had sent her a sample of the product after the success of the song.
Twinkie defense "Twinkie defense" is a derisive label for an improbable
legal defense. It is not a recognized legal defense in
jurisprudence, but a catch-all term coined by reporters during their coverage of the trial of defendant
Dan White for
the murders of
San Francisco city Supervisor
Harvey Milk and Mayor
George Moscone. White's defense was that he suffered
diminished capacity as a result of his depression. His change in diet from healthful food to Twinkies and other sugary foods was said to be a symptom of depression. Contrary to common belief, White's attorneys did not argue that the Twinkies were the cause of White's actions, but that their consumption was symptomatic of his underlying depression. of a snack of Twinkies,
Oreos, or
Doritos every 3 hours in an attempt to demonstrate to his students "...that in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most, not the nutritional value of the food." He lost over a two-month period, returning his
body mass index (BMI) to within normal range. In addition to Twinkies, Haub ate
Little Debbie snack cakes, cereals, cookies, brownies,
Doritos,
Oreos and other kinds of high calorie, low-nutrition foods that are usually found at convenience stores. However, despite calling it the "Twinkie diet", Haub also consumed 1
protein shake per day and one serving of
canned green beans or 4
celery stalks, along with the Twinkies,
Oreos, and
Doritos. Besides the protein shake and multivitamin, Haub also ate nutritionally dense whole milk, carrots, and vitamin fortified cereal. This contradicts representations by other media outlets stating that Haub "only" ate junk food. He ate the vegetables at the dinner table in order to set a good example for his children. Bodybuilder
Sergio Oliva (1941–2012) would sometimes indulge in eating a box of Twinkies (with a 2-liter bottle of
Mountain Dew) after his notoriously strenuous workouts.
Urban legend of shelf life A common
urban legend claims that Twinkies have a theoretically infinite
shelf life, and can last unspoiled for a relatively long time of ten, fifty, or one hundred years due to the chemicals used in their production. According to a company executive, Twinkies are on the shelf for a short time; he told
The New York Times in 2000 that the "Twinkie is on the shelf no more than 7 to 10 days." The maximum shelf life was reported to have been 26 days, until the addition of stronger preservatives, beginning in 2012, increased it to 45 days. The TV show
The Simpsons depicted this claim in its 5th-season episode "
Homer and Apu". A customer at the
Kwik-E-Mart screws up a Twinkie and throws it on the floor in anger. Apu shouts after him, saying he cannot hurt a Twinkie. It then pops back into shape and Apu puts it back on the stand. It has even been claimed that Twinkies could survive a
nuclear war. The movie
WALL-E also depicted this claim. Among the collection of various things found left behind in mountains of garbage centuries prior by humanity on a thoroughly-polluted Earth, the titular robot WALL-E has a few packaged Twinkies (branded as Buy n Large "Kremies"), one of which he opens to feed his
cockroach companion Hal, referencing the urban legends regarding Twinkies having a long shelf-life, particularly those claiming that Twinkies, like cockroaches, could potentially survive a nuclear catastrophe. The 2012 Super Bowl Chevy Silverado Apocalypse commercial also gives a nod to the Twinkie's reputed durability. ==See also==